New analysis of premature infants' heartbeats, breathing could be cues for leaving NICU

...Bethesda Md. -- Late gestation is a busy time for babies getting read...The article is entitled Breath-By-Breath Analysis of Cardiorespirator...Methodology ...The researchers collected data from the bedside monitors of 1202 infa...

Bethesda, Md. -- Late gestation is a busy time for babies getting ready for life outside the womb, particularly for functions critical to life such as breathing and maintaining an adequate heartbeat. These two functions are connected in mature infants and healthy people throughout life, so measuring their level of connectedness can give doctors a cue about whether an infant is ready to head home or needs to remain in the care of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Current methods to analyze this connection are not yet fully developed, leaving doctors and nurses without an optimal way to deal with periodically missing data or natural variations in breathing or heartbeat. Now, however, researchers in Virginia have found a way around this problem by using a new analytical method that looks for so-called cardiorespiratory interaction using individual breaths and heartbeats and relating the two in time. The findings shed light on which infants may be mature enough to leave the NICU, showing that postnatal age seems to be an indicator of maturity, but birth weight or gestational age at birth are not.

The article is entitled "Breath-By-Breath Analysis of Cardiorespiratory Interaction for Quantifying Developmental Maturity in Premature Infants." It appears in the current edition of the Journal of Applied Physiology, published by the American Physiological Society.

Methodology

The researchers collected data from the bedside monitors of 1,202 infants cared for in the University of Virginia NICU from January 2009 to June 2011. This data included both electrocardiogram waveforms (an indicator of heartbeats) and chest impedance signals (an indicator of breaths) from both infants considered to have very low birth weights and those with normal birth weights. The researchers paired these two measures in sliding four minute windows, using software to determine whether patterns in breathing correlated with patterns in heartbeats. The'/>"/>

... University scientists have defined a hidden second option plants ... be the first step in boosting plants, nutritional value ... phenylalanine is required to build proteins and is a ... plants, including lignin, which allows plants to stand upright ...

... negative emotions they often use spatial metaphors. A happy person is ... in the dumps. Some researchers believe these metaphors are a clue ... spatial words to talk about emotional states, we also use spatial ... To test this link between vertical space and emotion, in ...

... Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO) is pleased to ... postdoctoral fellowships, career development awards and research grants. HFSP ... selection in a global competition. The names are available ... HFSP postdoctoral fellowships are given to young scientists ...

(Date:3/3/2015)... DUBLIN , Mar. 03, 2015 Research and ... addition of the "Gene Therapy Market, 2015 - ... The "Gene Therapy Market, 2015-2025" report provides an extensive ... lot of research has been carried out in this ... five approved therapies (four available in Asian markets; one ...

(Date:3/3/2015)... 03, 2015 The winners of awards ... honored by the Global Supply Chain Resiliency Council ... place on Wednesday, February 25th, 2015, at the Hyatt ... formed to bring together supply chain risk management and ... the professional discipline through opportunities to collaborate, develop and ...

... JOLLA, Calif., April 2 TorreyPines Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ... it received a letter from the Listing Qualifications Department of ... on the Company,s stockholders, equity as reported in its Annual ... 2008, the Company does not comply with the minimum stockholders, ...

... Commission grants marketing authorization for Intercell,s IXIARO, the ... and military personnel in Europe -- This final ... for Human Medicinal Products (CHMP) in December 2008VIENNA, ... announced that its new vaccine to prevent Japanese ...